Internet tips and tricks for the lazy and stupid

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In this episode of Lazy and Stupid, we hop offline to talk about the exciting world of BUDGETING!

It may not be the most glamorous of subjects, but it’s important to maintain some kind of budget whether you own a business or if you just need to get a better handle on your financial situation.

WHAT IS A BUDGET?

A budget compares your income to your expenses to give you a better understanding of your financial situation.

Budgets can be useful for all sorts of financial planning scenarios. Want to go on vacation? Use a budget to figure out how much money you can set aside to save for it. Want to increase how much you’re able to spend on entertainment? Use a budget to figure out where you can adjust your spending to account for that additional cost.

IN THIS EPISODE

Throughout this episode, I’ll take you through a budget spreadsheet that I have designed which has helped me tremendously when it comes to maintaining my finances. If you like what you see, you can purchase the exact template featured in this video, along with my budget tip sheet, for only $7.

Want to learn how to use WordPress without all the baggage of launching and maintaining a public website? You’re in luck. In this video, I’ll teach you how to install WordPress locally onto your PC.

What does that mean?

Installing WordPress locally means that you essentially turn your computer into your own personal server, onto which you can build your own personal website. In other words, it gives you the freedom to build a fully functional website directly onto your own computer that only you have access to. This is helpful if you’re just getting started with WordPress and you just want to get familiar with it, or if you want to test out some new coding techniques before launching them on a public website.

Last night (March 2nd, 2014), I posted a 19 second video to YouTube of my three children running aimlessly around the kitchen table screaming their heads off while I stared blankly into the camera as if to say, “this is what I go through… every day.” We’ll leave the discussion of how horrible of a father I am for another day.

Shortly after posting the video, I submitted a link to the video to a couple popular content sharing websites like Reddit and Stumbleupon. The video quickly took off, and by the time I woke up the next morning, it had generated over 31,000 views. I had also received numerous emails from “viral content” websites and social news agencies wanting to license the video.

A few hours later, someone pointed out that my video had been published by the Huffington Post. A couple hours after that I was contacted by ABC who requested permission to show my video on Good Morning America (which will run tomorrow, assuming they decide to use it). Shortly after that I was on the phone with an ABC reporter who was interviewing me to get details for a blog post she was writing up for ABCNews.com and GoodMorningAmerica.com. Where this video goes from here, I have no idea, but needless to say, it’s been an interesting day.

41,000 views (which is the current view count as of this writing) may not seem like a lot compared to some of the mega-viral videos out there, but to go from getting very limited exposure for many of my videos (like those on Lazy and Stupid and Pintastic Recipes) to being contacted by national news outlets is a jolting experience to say the least.

Am I excited about all this exposure and attention? Absolutely, but originally, I was annoyed. You see, I’ve put many, many hours into scripting, filming, editing and publicizing my existing video content–content that I believe to be quite good, at least by my own standards–only to have my “claim to internet fame” be a video of screaming kids that took me 19 seconds to film and only a few minutes to upload and publish.

But then I had a realization. I realized that, sometimes, “quality video content” doesn’t necessarily have to be some effects-heavy, studio-quality production shot and edited with high-priced equipment and software. Sometimes, quality video content can be something quick, simple, relevant, relatable, well-timed and shot with a shitty cell phone camera in poor lighting. Duly noted.

Either way, I’m having fun. Thanks to everyone who has watched, shared, liked and commented on the video so far. To infinity, and beyond.

Now that I’ve answered the question of how to get verified on Twitter in my last episode, it’s time to move on and talk about a more important–and more realistic–subject: how not to SUCK on Twitter.

I start out this episode with an explanation of what Twitter is for all you novices out there, then I move on to provide some helpful tips for setting up and using Twitter effectively to build your brand, whether it be for your business or yourself.

Now get out a pen and piece of paper, take some notes, and get off your lazy ass and do something awesome on Twitter!

Today is Martin Luther King Day, and brands have not hesitated to leverage the opportunity to use their social media presences to “honor” Mr. King. Honestly, most of them should have kept their mouths shut.

Photo Credit: UnMarketing.com

I’ve seen countless examples of brands running MLK specials to boost sales today. Scott Stratten from UnMarketing shared this gem earlier today featuring a business that offered 25% off everything black in the store. Please take a moment to really let that one sink in.

What really irks me, however, are the more subtle examples of brands using this holiday to benefit themselves, and for me, it all comes down to the company logo.

If you’re a brand, and you want to honor MLK on social media, a simple quote accompanied by an image of Mr. King will usually do the trick. But when a company associates their brand with MLK by adding their logo to the photo, the entire message of the post changes from, “Stop thinking about us for a moment and take some time to honor this great man,” to, “Hey everyone, look how much WE love Martin Luther King! Aren’t we awesome?!”

In other words, associating your brand with MLK in any way takes the focus away from the intended meaning of the post in an attempt to turn it back towards the brand, and I find that incredibly insensitive and in poor taste.

Bottom line: If you want to honor MLK today (or any notable public figure in the future) on social media, either A) do not make any attempts to associate your brand with who you’re trying to honor, or B) keep your mouth shut and say nothing at all. And by the way, if you do choose option B, no one will call you out for being a bigot or a racist. If you don’t believe me, look at the Facebook pages of your favorite brands and I’ll bet you that the large majority of them chose not to “honor” Mr. King today.

My first impression of Jelly, the new question-and-answer-based social network, wasn’t so good; the app wasn’t available on my Android and I couldn’t connect my Twitter and Facebook accounts via the iPad app. That said, now that the account connection issue is fixed, my second impression of Jelly is much better.

I like to ask a lot of questions, but often-times, my Facebook friends or Twitter followers don’t have an answer for me (either that or they’re just to lazy to engage). Jelly seems to fix that problem. It allows you to connect with people outside of your immediate network on Facebook and Twitter to find answers to questions you have. Sure, there’s always Google, but sometimes even Google can’t provide relevant answers to some of my quandaries. It’s nice to receive relevant information from another human being from time-to-time.

Obviously, in its current form, it is intended for individuals only, but I’m sure it won’t be long before businesses utilize the platform to provide value to potential customers by providing answers to industry-relevant questions.

My main criticism at this point is that it would be nice to see a search feature of some kind. If I’m in the mood to answer others’ questions, I’d like to be able to search for questions around a particular topic as opposed to just rifling through the most recent questions.

All-in-all, I’m intrigued and I’m curious to see where it will go from here.

Remember the days when you used to be able to share your photos from Instagram to Twitter and the image preview would display along with the tweet? Those were good times. Then Instagram decided to turn off Twitter Cards (which are what make it possible to display media with your tweets) shortly after Facebook scooped them up for $1 Billion back in Spring 2012. Isn’t that a coincidence?

Luckily, there is a way to bypass Instagram turning off Twitter cards so that your Instagram photos can display on Twitter. In this episode, I’ll show you a trick using website called IFTTT.com that will allow you to do this. I originally learned about this trick from this LifeHacker article.

It’s time to stop settling for boring tweets with nothing but boring links to your boring photos on Instagram. No longer will you be forced to share your photos on Instagram AND on Twitter!

No get off your lazy ass and go do something awesome (after you watch the episode, of course)!

Have you ever thought about getting off your lazy ass and starting your own website or blog? It’s a lot easier than you might think, and in the episode of Lazy and Stupid, I discuss some of the different platforms and tools you’ll need to get started. I’ll also give you an introduction to WordPress, which is the Content Management System (CMS) that I use to maintain my website, by taking you behind the scenes at lazyandstupid.com.

Below are links to all the resources I mention in the video (and some I don’t):

Hi to all you lazy and stupid people out there. This is quick and simple tutorial to show you how to block all those pesky Facebook app invites that you hate getting (I’m looking at you, Candy Crush players). Enjoy.